ByCompiled from wire service reports by Robert Kilborn and Ross AtkinFebruary 17, 2004

Barbara Bennett works as a customer sales representative, so presumably she knows a thing or two about being precise when advertising a product. Thus, you can imagine her reaction when the phone started ringing after The Colombian newspaper in Vancouver, Wash., ran her classified ad for the Brother brand sewing machine she hoped someone else would take off her hands. Alas, its headline - "Brother for sale" - neglected to mention the type of item involved. At least one caller wanted to know whether her asking price - it was in the "under $50" category - was negotiable. Barbara has two male siblings and says she loves both and that neither is on the market. As for the newspaper, it has agreed to run a corrected version.

Vehicles at Opposite ends of environmental spectrum

Honda's Civic GX beat out a couple of gas-electric hybrids, among them its own two-seater stablemate, the Insight, to earn the title of "greenest" car or passenger truck for the 2004 model year. In compiling its annual rankings, the American Council for an Energy- Efficient Economy weighs such criteria as fuel economy and tailpipe emissions. None of Detroit's Big Three make the top 12, but models from each made the "meanest" - or least green - list. The top five in each category, with their respective scores out of a possible 100, according to the council: